


Wood Chips

by Ikasury



Series: Tempered Fragments AU [4]
Category: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Morag is a cat lady, Nia is a cat, TINY - Freeform, Useless, ambiguous timeline, drabble pile
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-15
Updated: 2019-03-19
Packaged: 2019-08-23 21:10:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 13,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16626506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ikasury/pseuds/Ikasury
Summary: AKA: Nia's Useless Fluff-PileA bunch of small scenes between the Special Inquisitor and Gormotti Ruffian that are fluffy, adorable, and generally just useless fluff~ Typically bit-sized and around 1000 words~





	1. A Nice Bench

**Author's Note:**

> I have a weird theme going with these two~
> 
> So auditing my third '100 days' challenge, i find i have all these tiny derpy fluff pieces for Inquisitor Nyah... most are around a thousand words or less and i honestly hate posting 'tiny' chaps, it feels weird, but its not like i can add anything to these little 'wood chips' *snorts* and they convey exactly what they're intended to...
> 
> tiny, adorable, useless fluff...
> 
> basically Nia~
> 
> And as Summer_Dusk has told me a few times to post these, here ya'll go... thank her~

A Nice Bench

Morag was reading.

There was a particularly nice bench in the throne area of the palace.

It was a dark Gormotti wood furnish with a red felt covering in parts. The padding was old, probably needed to be refurnished. It had been around since she was a little kid.

“… What in the bloody hell did that bastard think he was doin’?!”

Nia walked by, ranting about something.

The benefit of this old bench was that since it was in the throne room, technically only those of the Imperial family could use it. When Morag was young she would often find Brighid just sitting here enjoying a nice book.

Like she was now.

“… I swear I do something and it’s like a bloody circus!!”

“Mmhmm…” Morag flipped a page.

The Special Inquisitor was enjoying a rare moment off duty. She’d been off helping with a joint mission with an Urayan official for the past few weeks. It was part diplomatic, part monster extermination. The Urayan official had made it something of a challenge, trying to outdo her when it came to monster extermination. It was a bit foolish, as she was a member of the team that made it to the top of the World Tree.

Long story short, the diplomatic part of the mission went off without a hitch. The challenge portion?

Morag smirked.

She wasn’t the best Driver in the Empire for nothing.

“… Its bloody mad!! I just wanted to get through!!”

Another page was flipped.

The Special Inquisitor had just gotten back, taking the moment to grab a book and come up to this lovely bench, intent to take a calm moment to relax.

“Eeerrgh!!” Nia jumped, having stopped her pacing in front of the Ardainian, ears perked and fists at her sides.

Glancing up from her book, Morag could see Nia frowning down at her.

Light brown eyes blinked.

Gold eyes glared.

“Are you even listening to me?!”

Her ears were fuzzed, her little fists were shaking at her sides, and her shoulders were up…

But it was the pout that did it in for Morag.

“Hmhm…” a beautiful smile rose on the Inquisitor’s lips, all because of Nia’s adorable pout.

The small Gormotti woman really was cute when she was angry.

One of those cream colored grey ears flicked, showing Nia’s annoyance. Though there was a small blush…

Dark brows rose as Morag looked up at the adorably pouting Gormotti woman. She closed her book, keeping her place with her finger, as she crossed her legs and looked at Nia.

“Grrmmmhhh,” gold eyes went to the side, the blush increasing.

Raising a black brow, Morag reached over and patted the lovely bench next to her.

“Care to join me?”

Nia crossed her arms, looking to the side fully as the pout increased, “Why should I?”

Sly light brown eyes looked at the Gormotti woman, patting the seat next to her again, “It’s comfortable.”

“You weren’t listening to me…” more pouting.

Morag held out her hand, looking amused, “Join me.”

Nia growled, looking away, turning, pouting some more…

The Inquisitor still held out her hand, letting the little Gormotti woman be herself.

Nia did a full circuit, turning around the other way still groaning…

Only to fall forward and put her face in Morag’s lap.

“Hmhm…” Morag chuckled in her throat, smirking slightly as she reached up and pet back Nia’s ears, “Well…”

Another groan, but without removing her head from the Ardainian woman’s lap, she moved her body to be parallel with the bench. Curling up on it and laying her head down flat.

“Better?”

The Gormotti woman just growled, keeping her eyes closed and nuzzling into the uniform pants.

Morag just chuckled again, moving one hand to hold up her book, propping her elbow in the armrest so she could read easily while petting Nia’s ears with her other.

Nia was grunting and growling… only for a few minutes… then changed it to pleased, almost purring.

A pleased gentle smile sat on Morag’s lips as she continued reading, flipping the page while her lover nuzzled and purred in her lap.

This was a nice bench.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have a funny little scenario, please give it to me~ i'd love to hear it~ i could probably do a silly little scene like this with it :D


	2. If You Fall...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is part of a small 'series' of scenes i never got around to posting for... some reason~ all around the theme of Morag catching Nia cause she's a useless cat~
> 
> titles come from the Lyrics of Cyndi Lauper's 'Time after Time' (which is totally my theme for these two~)

There was that time when they were in Argentum so Poppi could go to school and get a diploma.

“What in all of bloody Alrest does this have to do with getting a damn diploma!!” the Gormotti Driver shouted over the roars of the ungodly Titan-beast that stupid Nopon teacher summoned from the deep.

“Just shut up and focus!” Morag shouted, growling as she wielded Brighid’s rapier-whips. It was hard enough just keeping the damn thing’s attention! Between her and Tora this should have been fine, but thanks to Nia using her new overpowered Blade’s Ether Cannon she kept pissing it off and drawing its attention!

“Oh, easy she says!” another shot from KOS-MOS’ oddly shaped Ether Cannon, “Just a small test she says!!” Nia rolls under a swipe from the beast’s tendril like whisker, “BLOODY PIECE OF CAKE SHE SAYS!! WON’T TAKE A TICK! JUST WHOP IT AN’-SHITE!!” using her Arts Nia was barely dodging, rolling while shooting the overpowered cannon.

“Master, it would be best if you-!” her new Blade was trying to give advice but the Gormotti Driver wasn’t hearing any of it.

“NIA!! STOP SHOOTING THE DAMN THING AND TRY TO-DAMNIT!!” Morag shouted, running to take a brunt hit in front of the smaller woman while Tora used Poppi’s second form to punch the thing in the face.

The large Nopon landed a bit dizzy, “Tora think this fish too big…” PoppiQT took back her gauntlets and fired a barrage of missiles at the thing.

Morag just growled under her breath, turning back to their _supposed_ healer, “Nia switch to-NIA!!”

The Gormotti Driver, with a furious look on her face, threw the Ether Cannon to her Blade. KOS-MOS crossed her arms, the visor on her face dropping over the battle android’s eyes and Gormotti looking ears appeared on her head. Two large struts ejected from her back and anchored her to the ground as a bright light seemed to charge up in the android’s abdomen.

Morag only had time to get out of the way as the quiet Blade spoke, “X-Buster.”

An array of light shot out of the Blade’s stomach and burned several holes through the large Titan-beast.

The team could only blink as it gave a rattling wail than flopped onto the flight deck of Argentum dying.

The visor went up, the struts retracted, and the funny Gormotti looking ears left KOS-MOS as she blinked those still red eyes of hers, “Target eliminated.”

In one final death throe the beast flailed, its tail heading straight for the Blade that had killed it.

“NIA!!” without even thinking Morag jumped towards her fellow Driver just as the giant fin was about to hit the Gormotti Driver. Nia just had a shocked look on her face as she felt Morag wrap around her like a shield and took the massive hit for her, sending the both of them tumbling over the side.

“NIA!!” “MORAG!!” “FRIENDS!!” their comrades shouted.

Nia tried to grab something, Morag was out cold from the massive hit, but there was nothing. They shot over the railing, the Titan having its last revenge, and they shot towards the Maelstrom. Nia braced for the hit, but again it seemed Morag saved her any damage, bouncing off the side of the ship and they both went tumbling into the cloud sea.

It was a disorienting couple of seconds under the surface, but Nia managed to keep ahold of her idiotic friend. If the tail swipe hadn’t knocked Morag out, hitting the Maelstrom sure as hell did!! The sturdy woman was dead weight and Nia had to struggle to get to the top.

Taking a great big gasp as she breached the surface, gold eyes glared at the Ardainian woman, “Of all the stupid!! Idiotic!! Dumbass bloody things you could’a… M-Morag?!” seeing little to no response, Nia panicked, shaking the woman… nearly getting dragged back under… before simply shouting at her and scrambling towards the closest side of Argentum.

They were quickly fished up by some Salvagers that watched them go overboard, some even trying to lighten the mood by joking about the Ardainian soldier hitting the Maelstrom hard enough to nearly tip it over.

Nia wasn’t hearing any of it, just shaking off and crawling over to the dark-haired woman, grabbing her shoulders, “Hey-hey c’mon! Morag don’t do this! Morag!” she slapped the woman across the face, twice, still getting no response, “Damnit! Don’t do this to me! You survived dropping into Morytha!! Don’t pull this on me now!!” there may have been a few more slaps as Nia was panicking, seconds away from turning into her Blade form…

Just as the other’s got there the Imperial Inquisitor coughed, clearly still dazed and blinking several times slurring, “Whatwas the serialnumber of that Titan?”

“Heh! Hehahhahahaa!!” Nia grabbed her face, pulling her close, not caring about the others just glad she was fine.

Morag scowled, her cheeks stinging under Nia’s grip, “Did you-did you slap me?!”

“You wouldn’t wake up!!” the Gormotti woman shouted, angry and still not caring, particularly about knowing that wasn’t the proper response to someone being unconscious.

“Why would you slap me?!” Morag sat up, nudging Nia away and rubbing her cheeks, realizing both were sore, “Twice?!” It hurt sure, but she was more embarrassed about the situation.

Nia just ignored the Ardainian woman’s shouts and attempts to get her away, grabbing her around the waist and shouting back about how stupid she was for jumping in and taking a hit like that for her.

“YOU’RE AN IDIOT!!”

“YOU SLAPPED ME!!”

The others just stood there embarrassed. Rex scratched the side of his head, speaking for the rest, “I guess they’re okay?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate that titan fish...


	3. ... I Will Catch You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another 'falling' one~

Nia had a thing about heights.

This wasn’t normally a problem. They could be on a ledge and she’d just stay as far from it as possible. There were even a few times they could just climb along the rockface and she’d just stare ahead of her at the stone and be fine… so long as the next ledge big enough to stand on wasn’t that far away.

The worst case was when they were in Tantal. Not only was it cold so everyone was a bit stiff because they were freezing, but things tended to be covered in ice and were slippery.

There was one tower that in order to get to it they had to slide down an ice tube and jump… then grab onto some overgrown vines and climb up quite a ways.

Zeke had been the first to go… to test if it’d work. Everyone agreed he was a sturdy fellow, he’d survive if he came up short somehow. Plus, he jumped at the chance to go flying… Zeke was weird.

Then it’d been Rex, and Nia, then Tora. Rex had the safety net of his grappling hook, Tora had Poppi and her rocket boots.

Nia was still shaking as she gripped the vines tightly, refusing to move more than an inch at a time.

By the time Morag launched over, as she _still_ thought this was a ludicrous plan! Nia had made it about a foot up while the others were waiting at the top. The Ardainian woman had landed near the bottom of the vines, probably because she was larger than the rest or timed her jump wrong, so had to climb up the furthest. It was annoying but necessary.

Morag had made it about halfway up when there was a squeal above her.

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!”

Nia had slipped, froze and lost her grip.

Morag watched as if in slow motion as she started falling. Without even thinking she reached out, grabbed Nia’s jumper and scrambled to catch the vines again, now with _more_ weight and everything being so damn frozen in this ARCHITECT-DAMNED place!! They slid all the way back down to the bottom of the vines. If Morag hadn’t been wearing gloves her hands would have blistered and burned from the friction and they’d probably be dead.

The Ardainian woman growled, holding onto the vines with one hand and Nia with the other, her feet dangling over open air. One wrong move and they’d be dead, “Nia… Nia! Are you alright?!”

Gold eyes were wide and she was staring below her. The height, the fall, the vast open space below her was clearly freaking her the hell out.

“Nia! Snap out of it!!” Morag shouted, trying to pull the smaller woman up, “I need you to wake up and climb onto my back!! NIA!!”

That shout was enough to get her conscious, as the Gormotti woman shook her head, turning wide gold eyes up, staring at the Ardainian woman. She realized Morag was holding the back of her jumper, realized that was literally her lifeline right now, “M-Morag…”

The Imperial Inquisitor tried to give something of an encouraging look, “I’m going to try and pull you up, you have to grab on to me, understand?” automatically Nia nodded, not trusting her voice and Morag did what she could, pulling the smaller woman up.

As soon as she was close enough, Nia grabbed onto Morag, first around her waist then pulled up further to have her arms around the sturdy woman’s shoulders and legs around her waist.

A small grunt escaped the Ardainian woman as she could feel Nia’s claws extended and buried into her clothes and scratching at her skin. It was insanely uncomfortable but at least she knew Nia wasn’t going anywhere. Now with Nia basically secured and both hands available, Morag went about climbing back up this damn cliff-face.

She was panting by the time she’d made it to the top, technically climbing this damn thing twice and this time with the added weight of another person. Nia hadn’t so much as budged, claws keeping her secure and had her face buried in Morag’s back the whole time. Even when Morag crawled up to the top and just laid on the ground a second Nia didn’t let go, too scared from the whole ordeal.

“Some… **_help_** … would have… been… appreciated…” Morag growled, too winded to look up and properly glare at the others.

Rex nervously scratched the back of his head, “Well, didn’t want to shoot my hook off and hit you, ya know? Would’a been worse to try and help only to make you fall!”

Zeke nodded as well, “Besides, why deprive you of the chance to prove your manliness Morag!!” he did a little pose, not even noticing as she glared holes into his skull, “I have to say! You even have the great Zekenator impressed!! I almost want to give it a try myself!! HaHA!”

The look on Morag’s face promised that one day soon she would brutally murder the Prince of Tantal.

“Tora wasn’t sure if should help,” the Nopon engineer rubbed his ear-wing finger-things together, genuinely sorry, “Was sure help would make situation worse and Morag seemed to be doing well…”

Light brown eyes rolled as Morag groaned, pushing herself to sit up. The look on her face got flatter as she noticed a certain someone still hadn’t moved, “Nia, you can let go now.”

“Not until we’re on bloody solid ground!” the Gormotti woman nearly shouted, still tense, and still having her claws dug into Morag’s uniform.

The Ardainian woman could only sigh, putting up with this nonsense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the guys are just so helpful~


	4. Layabout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nia is a useless house cat~

Layabout

It was midmorning and Nia was curled up under the covers of their bed.

Morag had come into their room to grab something, a pin she’d forgotten to put on, or a replacement for one, didn’t really matter as she opened the door from her office and just stood there and stared at the large ball of blankets that still inhabited her bed.

The curtains were still drawn and the ball of fluff and fabric seemed to purr every so often.

Bringing her hand up to cover a snicker, Morag walked over to the tall windows and drew back the curtains. She hadn’t done it earlier as it was still dark when she awoke to start her day, and even then Nia was hard to deal with. As in she would curl up on her and not let her move for longer than necessary and removing the Gormotti woman from her was sometimes more hassle then it was worth.

She still loved Nia, she just… could be terribly unhelpful at times.

There was a distinct hiss from the ball of blankets when the Ardainian sun beamed down from the open windows directly on it. At this point Morag couldn’t help but chuckle.

There was a long growl as the ball moved, perhaps Nia turned over.

Morag just stood by the open windows a moment, crossed her arms and cocked her head. It was going to be one of _those_ days wasn’t it? Shaking her head she moved to look for that pin…

\-----

By noon there had been little improvement.

The ball of fluff and fabric had simply moved to the other side of the bed, trying futilely to escape the sunlight as it encroached on the silken sheets.

Morag had just popped her head in to see if Nia wanted to go into town to get something to eat.

Merely _opening_ the door incited a growl.

Fair enough, the Inquisitor just decided coffee and something from the kitchens would do.

\-----

It was midafternoon and Morag was reading a paper that needed her signature. It was a manifest request from one of the imperial guards, giving her justification to look into a sketchy shipment that entered the port. The report was thorough and she was inclined to give the go ahead…

It was just tediously long to read and she had to make sure everything was in proper order...

Leaning her chin on one elbow she leaned around the sheet of paper she wasn’t really reading and stared at the bedroom door.

She hadn’t heard a single sound of movement all day… when she checked an hour ago there hadn’t been much improvement since noon.

Brighid had encouraged she roll Nia out of bed when she got into these useless moods. Dromarch seconded the opinion.

A frown slipped on her face when she was reminded the two of them were off who-knew-where enjoying the outside while she was stuck doing paperwork and Nia was still rolled up in blankets in bed.

She just sighed, turning her eyes back to the piece of paper in front of her.

It was a long day.

\-----

It was edging past 1600, technically Morag’s workday was over…

Opening the door to her bedroom yielded little change in the situation on this front.

The ball of blankets had moved back to the side it started on as the sun was now descending from the sky. It seemed Nia could muster the energy to reclaim her ‘territory’ on the bed but not get up and close the curtains.

It made Morag laugh to some degree.

She could probably get a few more things done before officially getting off the clock...

Shaking her head, the Inquisitor just closed the door, getting a head start for tomorrow.

\-----

It was evening now, the sun had descended, the moon had risen and Morag was doing paperwork by lamp light.

She was writing out a response to a request from a commander for support, he was of the opinion that Uraya was sending spies to steal their military secrets. He seemed to neglect the fact he was on a boarder base with nothing ‘top secret’ to worry about. She was _trying_ to be as diplomatic about the situation as possible…

There was a soft click and if she weren’t so frustrated by this letter she would have noticed it.

Some shuffling of fabric made itself known nearby, and before Morag knew it there was a chin on her shoulder and a light growl in her ear.

“You work too bloody much…” 

At the groggy voice she couldn’t help but laugh, putting her pen down else completely ruin the letter she’d been working on.

Light brown eyes turned to the pouty white marked cheeks in her peripheries.

“You sleep too much…”

Morag’s voice held a chuckle as she could feel Nia’s ear lowering, rubbing against her head while growling as a response.

“Nothing better to do…”

The Inquisitor could only shake her head with a light sigh. Who was she to argue with her lover? The Flesh-Eater really didn’t have any other priorities other than basic necessities and between the two of them enough funds to literally do nothing and be perfectly fine.

“It seems settling down has made you quite lazy, Nia,” a small smug smirk may have crept onto the Ardainian woman’s lips.

There was a growl in her ear, and before she knew it that grumpy Gormotti woman had her coat opened with expert ease and her claws were threatening to rip apart her undershirt.

“You _need_ a break, yea.” that was not a request, the growl and the nip at her neck was warning enough.

Morag just sighed, putting away her work. She really didn’t need to send another set of her shirts to the tailor’s, it was embarrassing enough the first time. “Fine, I’ll take a break.”

Nia just grinned against her neck, giving a little chuckle as she let go enough to let the Ardainian woman get up.

When Morag turned to give Nia a stern glare for bothering _her_ she was shocked to see her wrapped up in a blanket from their bed.

**_Only_** a blanket from their bed.

Red obviously spread on her face.

Those gold eyes just looked at the blushing Inquisitor, “What? Why so nervous?” being sly she leaned in, “Did you not bother to actually _check_ what was under the blanket all those times you came in to check on me?”

The gulp was all the answer she needed.

With a laugh, Nia took Morag’s hand and dragged her back to bed, “I swear, you miss the most obvious things sometimes…”

Morag had no response to that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summer_Dusk gave me 'Nia being a useless housecat' she got a ball of fluff and fabric that won't get out of bed... like a normal house cat~


	5. I Will Be Waiting...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another 'falling' one~ 
> 
> Featuring Deep Sea King Ken :D

They were fighting some huge monstrosity out in Tantal’s snowdrifts.

A massive squid-like monster nearly as tall as the inside of Genbu. Cloud Sea King Ken it was called and it only came out over the frozen lake when there was an aurora.

Of course, when the two of them just wanted to get some air, practice _away_ from the others and their nosy Blades… maybe see the aurora and admire its beauty… among other things… this giant MONSTROSITY had to show up!!

“WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS THAT?!” Nia screamed at the top of her lungs as Cloud Sea King Ken appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, right above them.

“MOVE!!” Morag pushed the Gormotti woman down, flattening her against the stone floor of the ruins they’d been standing on admiring the aurora. Just in time, as the giant squid monster spun, sending large monsters flying and creating a huge updraft above them.

Nia clung to Morag for dear life, terrified, putting her claws into the Inquisitor’s jacket and burying her face in it as the Ardainian woman covered her. She didn’t want Morag to get hit by that thing, it’d probably kill her! And with the updraft she was almost afraid the sturdy woman would blow away.

When Nia dared to crack open one of her gold eyes to see what was going on, the wind had died down finally, she saw Morag scowling towards the Tyrant level monster… and holding her hat.

Of course that made the Gormotti woman glare flatly, hitting Morag in the chest, pushing her off, “Of all the bloody things to think about at a time like this! You’re worried about that stupid hat!!”

“Nia!” Morag glared back, annoyed, mostly because they didn’t have time to be complaining about such things and they had discussed this before. It was a REFLEX!

“No!” Nia growled, seemingly ignoring their predicament, as she tried to swat at the woman’s hat, “Its stupid! Why! Why do you always go and do stupid things like that?!”

“Nia…” the Ardainian woman’s voice groaned, rolling her eyes, “This really isn’t the ti-!!”

Being petulant, Nia crossed her arm, turning away with a huff, “Hmp! If its so bloody important then why don’t you just-HEY WHAT-!?!”

A giant tentacle swiped at the area they’d just inhabited, only Morag had seen it coming and grabbed Nia, holding her bridal style and jumped. They landed on an ice slide and started speeding down.

“Hey-hey-hey-HEY!!” once again Nia was terrified and her claws were doing some serious damage to the Inquisitor’s jacket.

Morag just ignored her complaining companion, trying to avoid the giant tentacles chasing them. A flat piece of ice was broken off above them by Cloud Sea King Ken’s rampage, and Morag had just a moment to jump on it as the end of the ice floe came upon them.

“Hold on!” Ducking low she jumped, fully aware of Nia hiding further into her chest, and landed on the large ice piece, surfing it along the snowy banks while Cloud Sea King Ken attacked the ruin. Morag had her eyes in front of them, looking for a way to escape the Tyrant level monster, and her ears tracking what was behind them.

This whole surfing ice on snow was a whole new ordeal for her and if she weren’t running for both their lives probably would have been more impressed with how well this was working out.

Of course all good things must come to an end, and Cloud Sea King Ken seemingly lunged its entire monstrously huge body at them. Sending ice and snow flying high into the sky of Genbu.

“EEEEEEYAAAAAH!!” Nia was screaming, feeling the whole world going up, then down, then sideways and all around again. The only thing stable was the grip she had on the sturdy woman.

“Hold on tight, Nia!!” as much as she could, Morag made a ball around the Gormotti woman. Out of reflex or some stupid pride was either of their guess.

Nia managed to move her head, spying where they were going to fall. If it had been in the snowy drifts, they would have been fine, but it seemed Morag was headed straight for a small iced over lake.

Acting quickly, as she didn’t want the woman protecting her to get even more injured, Nia switched into her Blade form and manipulated the ice into water.

They hit hard, hard enough to be sent through an underwater tunnel.

They both surfaced inside what looked to be a frozen cave.

“What the-where is this?” Nia was looking around, she spotted a few animals but they scurried away quickly. There was light from the aurora reflecting inside the cave from a jagged opening.

Morag pulled herself out first, then reaching out to Nia, before looking around. It was freezing and now they were wet, “This isn’t good, we need to get out of here and back to the city…”

“Yea, but that big bastard is still out there, we should probably wait a bit, ey.” Using a bit of her ether abilities, Nia removed the water from herself. “There, dry!”

Light brown eyes glared.

Just _sensing_ those glaring eyes on her, Nia turned her head up, blinking innocently at the Ardainian woman, “What?”

Morag’s gaze remained flat, but she just faced the other way, rubbing her arms, “If we’re going to stay a while we should find a spot away from the entrance, its still cold…” she wasn’t sulking, wasn’t freezing or anything. Ardainians were hot blooded! She’d be dried out… soon… enough…

Gold eyes rolled, walking up behind the woman, placing her hand on her back and drawing out the water from her clothes, “Honestly, can’t just _ask_ or nothing can you? Too much of a deal, ey? Can’t show off without that pride of yours…”

There was a sneeze as Morag just glared flatly in front of her, “I didn’t want to bother you…” why did it seem even colder now that she wasn’t wet?

Nia just shook her head, dropping her hand as they both moved to the back of the cave. They could still see the aurora thanks to it reflecting all over the ice in the cave, it shouldn’t be too long before it disappeared, same with that monster.

They both sat in the back and Nia could still see that Morag was freezing. Gold eyes glared, sure she wasn’t ‘warm’ herself but really! “You’re cold.”

“I’m fine,” the dark haired woman shook her head, stopping a sneeze before it started.

Rolling her eyes with a smirk, Nia curled up to her side, “You could just ask…” she didn’t get a verbal response but she could see red creeping up on the woman’s cheeks. With a smirk, Nia reached over, putting her hand through the slip of Morag’s jacket and nuzzled as close as she could.

“N-Nia?!” Morag could definitely feel her cheeks burning. This was… this was so inappropriate.

“Shut it,” there wasn’t even a growl in the Gormotti woman’s voice, more of a laugh as she nuzzled under the woman’s arm, rubbing her cheek against Morag’s chest, “Better this way, much warmer under here, hehe.”

That red spread even further. Morag seemed to glance away for a long time before an idea came to mind, “Well, it would be more efficient…” she mumbled more to herself.

One of those cream colored grey ears perked up, gold eyes following a moment later.

Gathering her courage, Morag reached down, removing Nia’s hand first before undoing the buttons of her jacket.

Confused, Nia leaned back, watching her, “Ey? What’cha doing?”

A funny smirk rose on the Ardainian woman’s lips, “Well, we need to keep warm…” sly light brown eyes glanced at the Gormotti woman. She held out her arms, “Come here.”

Cream colored grey brow rose, eyeing the woman curiously, “What’re you planning?”

“Nothing indecent, I swear,” Morag tilted her head at the Gormotti woman, more amused than anything that she’d be the one wary of _her_. She spread her arms wider, “Now, come here.”

Still staring at her funny, Nia did as told. She moved within Morag’s reach, cautiously, and once close enough, Morag grabbed her, “Eep!” and pulled Nia into her lap. Then she pulled up the sides of her jacket and wrapped it around the Gormotti woman, locking her in with her legs. Once Nia realized the position she was in a bright red blush crept over her entire body.

“There, see,” Morag lowered her head, nuzzling the top of Nia’s cute head, “Much warmer.”

Gormotti ears flattened, ignoring the red all over her body and just how _comfortable_ being surrounded by the warm Ardainian woman was, “I hate you.”

Morag just chuckled low in her throat, ignoring her companion’s uncomfortable state. This was a great idea.


	6. ... Time After Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another 'falling' one~ 
> 
> Nia you need to sort out this height issue~

They were in Gormott.

After traveling around some backwardsass routes, through some tunnels with giant dangerous bugs and basically sliding down a _DEATH_ tunnel into an overgrown tree and then diving a suspiciously long way, Nia was very skeptical about _why the BLOODY **HELL?!**_ They were doing all this?!

Looking at vines and a wall to climb, her ear twitched irritably. She hated heights, they all _knew_ she hated heights…

“Why’re we always bloody climbing up ridiculously tall walls leading to weird places we’re not gonna come by ever again because it’s _too BLOODY **HARD**_ to get to!?!”

She said this, despite grabbing the vines in one hand and scowling at the vertical climb.

There was a chuckle behind her.

Glowering, Nia turned flat gold eyes to the _only_ person that would **_dare_** giggle at her so smugly…

Morag had an amused dark brow raised under her hat, Nia could only see it because she was looking ‘up’ at the woman, along with that damnable smug Ardainian smirk of hers.

Gold eyes flat and ears back, Nia growled, “What?”

There was a sparkle in the Inquisitor’s eyes behind her damn visor as she stood in a perfect parade rest, “I’ll stay here at the bottom until you are over the top,” there was a chuckle, Nia swore there was a chuckle, “Just in case you fall.”

“Oh yea?” there was a scoff from the Gormotti woman as she reluctantly grabbed the vines, “And what if **_you_** fall while on your way up, ey?” she’d only just put her foot on the wall, still hesitant to go up despite the others already at the top, using this bickering with Morag as a perfectly legitimate excuse to _not_ climb this stupid bloody way!!

There was a placid shrug from the Ardainian woman, “I’ll just have to catch myself.”

“Yea, and fall right on your royal ass,” there was an obvious huff as Nia spoke under her breath, glowering more at the wall then Morag’s straight answer. There wasn’t a response behind her, and Nia was half tempted to turn around, probably see the military woman staring at her flatly, pointedly, probably make some comment about not climbing already…

“ARGH!!” ears back, Nia grabbed another vine and started pulling herself up, “I’m going! I’m going!!”

She could just _feel_ those light brown eyes on her…

It was a good thing too, as only a few peds up Nia grabbed the wrong vine, it snapped, and she fell down…

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!”

Sturdy arms caught her soon enough, and Nia dared to crack open an eye…

Morag was looking down at her with a small smirk picking at the side of her lips.

“Shut it!” Nia growled, looking the other way. She didn’t need this damn Ardainian giving her such a look!

“How about I save us both the time and carry you up?” Morag spoke calmly, this was simply an offer to speed things along, nothing more…

“I said _shut it!_ ” Nia hopped out of her arms. She didn’t need the bloody Ardainian taking pity on her! It was just a stupid wall! She could climb a bloody wall!!

When she fell again, she begrudgingly took up Morag’s offer. At least the sturdy Ardainian woman didn’t say anything when they made it to the top, simply letting her get off and standing there as if waiting for something.

Gold eyes glared back at the woman. They were lucky the others were too enamored with the view further past the cave, and what looked to be a Beast Blade just sitting there, to have even noticed she’d come up on Morag’s back.

“Not a bloody word, yea.” Nia growled, crossing her arms and poutily scowling as she walked towards the group.

A funny smirk played at Morag’s lips, “I would never mention anything that would ruin your impeccable reputation.”

Nia hissed, “Oi, shut it!”

Morag kept her word, she didn’t _say_ anything to the others about Nia’s failure to get up a silly wall because of her fear of heights...

Why would she have to say anything when Nia screaming as she picked her up and jumped off the end of the rock out cropping into Cooley Lake said enough:

“AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHH!!! MMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGG!!”

She could hear the others laughing from above as she broke through the water, holding her hat and looking around.

Nia looked like a soaked cat as she broke through the water…

A soaked, **_angry_** cat.

“WHAT THE _BLOODY **HELL?!**_ ”

In her fury she slapped the hat right off the Ardainian woman’s head.

Morag could only sigh, having to go fetch it. Though, in her opinion, it was worth the effort having Nia cling to her while they dropped into the cool lake water.


	7. The Birth of Seasons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The people of Alrest have no idea what 'seasons' are...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My final piece in my third '100 day' writing challenge, and kind of why i'm posting this~
> 
> also it snowed here when i wrote it, couldn't help thinking of something cute~

The Birth of Seasons

It snowed in Alba Cavanich.

During that first year after the World Tree fell a lot of strange occurrences started to happen around Mor Ardain.

For starters, it wasn’t so blazing hot anymore. For the Ardainians this was weird, as they were hot blooded and had gotten used to the desert-like climate of their Titan. When it laid down to rest it seemed that for the most part it got a bit chillier, the non-Ardainians that lived on the former Titan rejoiced, while there was a sudden spike in requests for long-sleeved clothing and pants.

This started at the beginning of the year, it was a bit chillier, then it _rained_ a few times, which was even weirder. Those that lived on Mor Ardain were used to sand storms and spores, not… rain? Water falling freely from the sky? In _Mor Ardain?!_ This wasn’t Gormott or Leftheria!

The rains caused a period of massive mudslides and the Ardainians were grateful most of their buildings were built sturdily on platforms _away_ from the sludgy areas. Once the mud dried a bit it actually became a fairly decent dirt. The Gormotti said all the ‘salts’ and ‘impurities’ were washed away by the rains, meaning the dirt that was left now could be useable.

Most of the Ardainians didn’t believe it, at first, then they started seeing _grass_ growing out in the former dusty plains and soon enough _flowers_ appeared!

It made no sense.

Thankfully there was a period of dryness after all the rain, the native Ardainians were grateful for the return of the heat and what they were used to. The Gormotti, Leftherians and Nopon were annoyed.

But then that time period passed and it suddenly got cold… _very_ cold.

All the metal buildings and platforms most Ardainian structures were built on or out of became slippery and terribly treacherous to traverse. Everything seemed to shrink a bit and no one could really get ‘warm’ enough in their own homes. There as a reason Ardainians hated going to places like Tantal, it was just too bloody cold and outside the norm for them.

Then, of all things, it snowed.

It snowed all over Mor Ardain, and Alba Cavanich for the first time _ever_ was covered in a sea of white…

It was strangely beautiful.

Freezing, but still beautiful.

Morag was sitting at a small tea table in the dining hall, close to the window just so she could look out at the wide foreign landscape her home had become.

The snow had come suddenly, no one excepted it or believed it would ever happen, so when over a foot of it suddenly fell from the sky people weren’t sure what to do or think.

“Pretty amazing, yea?” a familiar voice called to her, taking the seat across from her at the small table.

Morag gave a light smile towards Nia, “Amazing, beautiful, yes, it truly is…” turning, her smile turned into a smirk when she saw how bundled up, even inside, the Gormotti woman was, “I didn’t realize it was _that_ cold?”

Nia just huffed, sinking further into the fur-rimmed coat of hers, “Yea, well, you’re wearing four different layers every damn day, can’t understand how you’d notice any change in the weather…”

Light eyes smirked at the grumpy Gormotti, “It keeps me well insulated,” she took a sip of her tea, running through her earlier thoughts, “There have already been a number of accidents and damages reported, the likes of a natural disaster…”

“Who’da thought a little bit of snow could stop the _mighty_ Empire of Mor Ardain,” Nia was being smug, her gold eyes glancing slyly at the woman next to her, “Too bad Gormott’s always a temperate place, we could’a used this info against you guys years ago…”

She was being snide, Morag knew this, shaking her head and setting her tea cup down, trying to ignore the slight smirk on her own lips, “One cannot prepare for what has never been thought possible before,” there was a chuckle next to her, and when she looked she could see Nia grinning all bundled up in her fur-rimmed coat, “Why are you wearing that coat?”

“It’s too bloody cold in here, yea!” those cream colored grey ears of hers went back as she snorted, “You lot got all the machinery in the world to make this place decently _pleasant_ when its sweltering outside, but hell if you can’t put together a bloody furnace or something for when it gets damn freezing!” unconsciously she rubbed her arms, shivering in the large jacket.

Morag couldn’t help the smile on her face, there really was no rebuttal or excuse she had for Nia’s statement. They were used to barren, desert-like climates, not… whatever this was now.

Moving her chair, Morag scooted in a bit more to lean on the table, none-too-subtly moving her chair closer to Nia’s as well.

One of Nia’s ears flicked, clearly she noticed even if she wasn’t looking at the Ardainian woman.

With a huff, Nia shivered again, “How can these big places be so bloody cold…”

Putting her arm around her grumpy lover, Morag brought the woman’s head to her chest, petting her ear, “We’re actually quite good at engineering,” a light chuckle from the Ardainian woman as the Gormotti one growled, “This Palace we designed with the rising temperature of Mor Ardain in mind, it was intent to be as efficient against the rising heat as possible…”

“Well it works too bloody well,” Nia growled, nuzzling against the warm woman’s chest.

A gentle smile passed the Inquisitor’s face as she pet back those cream colored grey ears, comforting them both, “Indeed, but that just means we have to readjust for this new, _strange_ , weather pattern…”

“This better not become bloody normal…” with a final huff, Nia just buried herself in her coat and the warm woman next to her.

Sadly, Nia’s request went unheeded, as this strange phenomenon and changing weather patterns seemed to occur at a regular interval from then on out. Every twelve months Mor Ardain, and the rest of the former Titan continents had to get used to a warm period, a chilling period, a snowy period and a rainy period. Some Ardainian scholars theorized this weather pattern was actually normal for the planet they existed on, just that back when the Titans were mobil it was unknown to their inhabitants as the Titans migrated constantly, keeping themselves at their desired temperatures and climates.

Tantal got a warm period. Uraya got a dry period. Gormott actually got an uncomfortable period.

And Mor Ardain…

Mor Ardain got snow.


	8. It's cold, shut it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> its always a pain trying to find a good position to sleep in...

\-----

It’s cold, shut it

They were in Leftheria and camping out.

Nia couldn’t sleep.

Tora was snoring on one side of her and Zeke the other, then Dromarch was growling in his sleep and she just couldn’t find a good spot on his lumpy back to fall asleep on. She was completely miserable.

Opening her eyes, across the fire, she could see Rex and Mythra snuggled up. It made her frown.

She slid down Dromarch’s back to the other side, seeing if getting away from the light of the fire would help…

Instead she saw Morag, off alone in the dark, sitting under one of those weird trees Leftheria had.

Nia’s cream colored grey ear twitched, and despite herself she started crawling towards the stoic Inquisitor.

Bit by bit, inch by inch, she crawled along the sand and grass trying to get to the Ardainian woman.

She didn’t look to be asleep, or maybe she was? That damn hat of hers made it difficult to tell her expressions sometimes, and how the hell could anyone be asleep like that? Sitting up perfectly straight against a tree? Away from the fire? Hell her head wasn’t even slouched on her shoulder or leaning against the tree!

She moved and Nia stilled, waiting to see if she’d turn and catch her…

Morag didn’t look her way and after a tense moment Nia continued on her way.

Ears back, gold eyes narrowed, she sat up on her knees right behind Morag, leaning ever bit closer to try and get a good look just under her visor…

“You know I could hear you…”

A small growl released from Nia’s chest as her ears dropped.

“You mean over all that racket that lots making?” she scoffed, “Got better ears then me then, yea.”

Throwing out any modicum of finesse, Nia just grabbed Morag’s closest arm and snuggled under it, wrapping the appendage around her like a blanket as she used the woman’s side and leg as a pillow, curling up in a ball next to her.

Heat passed through Morag’s body, and she was sure if Nia was even a _little_ bit aware of what she was doing, she’d realize Morag was blushing from head to foot. Luckily, Nia was more preoccupied with making _herself_ comfortable, instead of giving a damn how uncomfortable this made _her_.

Nia settled nicely, wrapped around Morag’s arm and enjoying the Ardainian woman’s body heat. Damn Ardainians were always warm, if she didn’t hate them so much she could almost learn to love them just for how comfortable they were to lay against… or, at least the Inquisitor was…

“Ah-um… Nia?”

“It’s cold, shut it.”

Morag didn’t say anything more, who was she to argue? It was just a teammate… seeking warmth… wrapped around her arm and using her lap as a pillow… nothing… weird… about this… at all.

Not to mention…

“We’re in Leftheria, even at night the temperature barely changes from warm…”

One of those Gormotti ears flicked.

“Oi, I said _shut it_!”

A _small_ smirk may have risen on the Inquisitor’s lips as she scratched her cheek with her free hand and looked the other way, figuratively and literally.

It was quiet for some time, as quiet as it got with those jerks snoring several peds away… but Nia managed to fall back asleep…

… until she woke up and it was blistering hot.

She could feel Morag’s leg under her head, feel the woman’s arm wrapped over her clutched in her own, it was the weight on the _other_ side that was irritating her.

Slowly, gold eyes opened into slits and glanced relatively behind her.

There was blue fire and it looked like Brighid was leaning on her Driver’s shoulder, just _over_ Nia.

If the Gormotti woman didn’t know any better she’d say the damn blue flame Blade was smirking at her.

“Oi, it’s too hot now…”

Brighid was _definitely_ smirking, “But Lady Morag said you were _cold_ …”

Nia growled, lowering her ears, biting out in a harsh whisper as she wasn’t sure if Morag was asleep or not, “You _know_ that’s not what this is about, so piss off, yea!”

The elegant blue flame Blade seemed to just chuckle in her throat, rising only enough to lean against the tree more comfortably, “Oh, but it seems I can’t quite leave either…” she moved her hand and Nia’s eyes followed.

Dromarch had his head in Brighid’s lap, a purring smirk on his sleeping face.

Nia just glared at her Blade, “Traitor…”

Brighid just chuckled sweetly, leaning close to her Driver’s back, stroking under Dromarch’s chin and smugly looking at the Gormotti woman stuck between them all.

Nia just growled, trying to get comfortable again.

“Its too bloody hot…”

The Inquisitor’s arm moved, pulling her more into the woman’s lap as Morag apparently cuddled in closer to her, leaning over to use Brighid’s shoulder as a head rest with Nia as effectively a blanket.

For all her worth Nia _wanted_ to just growl…

But even she couldn’t find it in her to ruin Morag’s sleep.

\-----

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nia curls up like a cat when she sleeps and Morag cuddles her, that's all i want~ even if Mom and Dad have to ruin it XD


	9. Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nia is bored in Mor Ardain...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short and sweet, the only way i can do fluff apparently~

Training

Nia was still getting used to this whole ‘military time’ thing.

She’d joined Morag in Mor Ardain after their journey because of her feelings for the woman, and vice versa, and they were still getting used to a few things. ‘Normal’ routine things for one would be a sudden burden for the other or things would get messed up and mistakes were made.

This mainly came from Morag’s side, as Nia felt her ‘rigid, orderly schedule’, AKA ‘military time’ as Nia had started griping about it, was just too much to deal with.

The Inquisitor got up ridiculously early, left, came back, got dressed, left to her office, and would spend most of her time there ‘doing her job’, stop at some point for food, work more, late, and then maybe finally stop to rest and more often than not go straight to bed. It left very little room for Nia to fool around with her…

While also mainly leaving Nia to her own devices and Mor Ardain was rather boring after a while. The Gormotti Driver figured this is why Morag adamantly left on missions elsewhere all the time. Her scheduling wasn’t as rigid when they were traveling, probably because the Ardainian wasn’t bogged down with paperwork or inspections or other ‘orderly’ affairs pertaining to her job.

Nia was honestly hoping for another mission out, they’d only gotten a few since the World Tree fell and she was getting cabin fever being cooped up all the time.

She just wanted to spend time with her lover, not share her with the military and other officials of Mor Ardain. Morag was clearly better at balancing this stuff out than she was…

So, out of sheer boredom and a bit of curiosity, Nia decided to follow Morag one morning when she got up and left, just to see what she as doing.

Normally Nia would be clingy, not wanting to wake up when Morag arose hours before dawn, only to roll over and fall back asleep, annoyed that the warm Ardainian wasn’t there for her to cuddle against.

This morning she managed to keep herself awake, long enough to listen for her lover to get dressed and leave, only to turn around and get herself ready in record time, then snuck out and tried following the Imperial Inquisitor.

Morag didn’t really go that far, going from the residential building of the Palace to the other side, the more… military base side of the place. She knew this wing had a lot of offices and bureaucrats. In general it seemed like a boring place that held no interest for the Gormotti Driver.

So it piqued her interest to see the woman she loved go towards one of the large doors and enter one of the rooms.

Curious, Nia snuck up to the metal door, putting her ear against it to see if she could pick anything up.

There wasn’t anything she could make out…

Pouting, Nia stared at the doorknob. She _could_ grab it, peek her head in, maybe get caught and yelled at… or find something she didn’t want to know?

– _No!_ \- Nia shook her head. She trusted Morag, the woman had earned that much from her. They were battle comrades, they fought Malos and she’d even given the woman her scimitar…

She trusted Morag more than anyone else in this new world.

Firmly Nia nodded, grabbing the handle and opening the door, looking inside.

Of all the things she thought might be on the other side, a small gym was not one of them.

Gold eyes blinked.

Morag was standing in the middle of a mat, wearing sweatpants she didn’t recognize and one of her dark tanktops. She wasn’t even wearing that damn hat, her hair just up in a bun, nothing obscuring her face…

The Ardainian woman held out her hand and Nia felt a tug on her ether…

In a moment her crystal scimitar appeared in front of the black haired woman.

Without even hesitating, Morag grabbed the single handed blade in her right, spinning with a flourish and performing a quick combo; stretching out with the blade, balancing with her off hand, mindful of her steps as she tried to keep the unusual ether from the weapon stable and within her control.

A funny smirk appeared on the Ardainian woman’s lips as she held the weapon out, bits of ether flaring out as she couldn’t keep them within the blade itself…

“Hehehe,” a giggle came from behind her and suddenly the weapon disappeared from her hand.

Turning around, light brown eyes spotted the Gormotti woman, a flash and she appeared in her Blade form, her weapon in hand as she held it out, small bubbles of water ether forming around her.

Nia was grinning with that cat-who-ate-the-canary grin of hers, fangs showing with her eyes closed as one of her ears flicked and she almost skipped forward.

Morag couldn’t help the wry smile that formed on her lips, “I thought you were unusually less clingy this morning…”

“Tch,” Nia waved her hand, only a few feet from Morag, “So what? I was bored, was just curious what you been doing this early in the morning,” she held out her weapon, holding the tip in one hand, looking down a bit bashful suddenly, “Didn’t think you’d be in here practicing with this, yea.

A bit of a blush may have creeped up on the Ardainian woman’s face as she reached up and fiddled with her stray bang, “It wouldn’t do well for me to have a weapon and not know how to use it…”

There was a smirk aimed her way, those gold Gormotti eyes telling her how she felt, “Oh yea?”

Morag looked at her lover furtively, “You could have just asked what I was doing?”

“And ruin the fun?” Nia snorted, twirling her scimitar, showing off as Morag figured, “Could say the same about you, could’a just _asked_ how to use this better, ey?”

With a shake of her head, Morag just looked at the Gormotti Blade wryly, “Would you show me without teasing?”

Nia giggled, “No,” she waved her hand, her scimitar disappearing and returning to Morag’s hand, “But least then I could tell you how to use it properly…”

“I’m not going to hear the end of this, am I?” Morag gave a sigh and a conceding smile. Nia wasn’t one to let go of an advantage, she’d learned at least that much about the Gormotti woman during their journey.

Another snort from the Gormotti Blade, “Hell no,” with a cheeky grin Nia moved to stand behind Morag, putting her hands on the woman’s elbows, moving her to be in a proper position to use her weapon, “Trust you to try and force something, my ether isn’t all nice and orderly like Brighid or Aegaeon, it’s not gonna be so easy to wield like how you’re used to, yea.”

It was Morag’s turn to chuckle, enjoying the feel of Nia’s hands on her, guiding her body through the proper motions. She felt heat on her cheeks and knew she was blushing but didn’t care, “Of course, even your ether must be difficult…”

Nia smirked, nuzzling into the woman’s back as she channeled her ether through her ‘Driver’, “Would you want me any other way?”

A beautiful smile appeared on the Ardainian woman’s face as she felt the Gormotti woman engulf her, felt her ether flow through her into the weapon in her hand, “No,” Morag’s smile became a smirk as she felt the cool energy of water flow through the weapon, forming a ball of water ether at the end. It was probably the best she’d managed since she started trying to use the damn thing, “I would not.”

Nia just smiled, flicking one of her ears as she felt the progress being made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So i burned through a manga called 'A Story about treating a female knight who has never been treated as a woman as a woman' and i couldn't help thinking about these two~ that title is ridiculous but its exactly what it says on the tin here~ kinda generic rom-com but because of the titled premise (and my obvious love of knight/healer love dynamics~) i found it very cute... its a library of rom-com derpiness and fluff with little to no substance... like potato chips...
> 
> useless but i love it~ and the set up had me thinking more of Morag and Nia in this situation, as i could EASILY replace Miss Leo and Fooly for them~ still think they're cute, but it was way too easy XD Nia and Fooly can start a fanclub for 'women with abs~'
> 
> but so, reading that derpy fluff, i couldn't help but come out with some fluff of my own~


	10. Gloating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its just a small rest on the way up the World Tree, honest~

Gloating

They were taking a break from fighting.

Nia and Morag had been on the ‘front lines’ since they fell into Morytha, and the team working its way up through the insides of the World Tree was proving to be an tiring affair. Add in all the BS with Amalthus and Indol attacking and BLOODY HELL the _TITANS_ shooting laser beams at each other and whew! It was just _EXHAUSTING!!_

So after taking out some huge Indol beast, the Special Inquisitor and Gormotti Flesh-Eater decided to _finally_ take a break… okay, the others may have had more of a hand in telling them to _REST!_ While they scouted out ahead then them actually deciding on it, but still…

They were resting… sorta…

Morag was laying back with her legs hanging off one of the large platforms open to the sky on the outside of the World Tree. Nia was sitting next to her, in her Blade form as the others had basically guilt tripped her into ‘watching’ Morag and healing her… the mortal woman had been pushing herself hard, not that Nia hadn’t been either, but they all seemed to forget so easily that Morag _was_ the only mortal human here, and she was their primary tank so she took all the hits they were supposed to get, despite technically being… well, Nia wasn’t about to say ‘less sturdy’…

- _Nothing’s sturdier than Morag Ladair_ \- she snickered in her mind, drinking from the canteen she swiped from the military woman. Gold eyes glanced next to her and she couldn’t help the smirk appearing on her lips.

Morag looked to be asleep, boots hanging off the end, while there was fighting going on all around them…

“Keh,” one of Nia’s long ears twitched, putting the canteen down, the smirk not leaving her face.

“What’s so funny?” a stern voice called from next to her.

Sly gold eyes looked to her side, spotting one of those _serious_ light brown ones looking up at her from behind the visor of that damn cap.

Nia couldn’t help but shake her head, “You, what else?” she held out the canteen to the woman, smirk not leaving her face.

A black brow rose under that silly hat, as Morag pushed herself up to sit properly, taking back her canteen with a pout.

Gold eyes flattened, “Wut? It’s not like I poisoned it or anything!”

A light sigh escaped the Ardainian woman’s lips before she just shook her head, drinking what was left, “You have poor manners to leave barely anything left…”

Nia snorted, rolling her eyes as she waved her hand around, bubbles of water forming around her hand, “I can _literally_ refill that for you if you’re gonna gripe about it, ey?”

A funny smirk rose on the Ardainian woman’s lips, shaking her head, “Gloating again, I see?”

“Pfft!” gold eyes rolled, “This isn’t gloating!” wiggling her fingers she moved the ether-formed water into the canteen, smugly eyeing the woman next to her, “ _This_ is gloating, hehe…”

Light brown eyes narrowed on the Flesh-Eater a moment, but Morag couldn’t wipe the smirk from her face, capping the canteen and moving to stand up as if nothing about this was strange, “Why thank you Nia,” she looked down at the Gormotti woman, eyes alight and smug, “I had been concerned about resupplying our water, it is good to know that it is no issue with you around…” then put her hands behind her back and started walking forward…

“OI!” Nia was on her feet in a second, marching up behind the woman with a glare, “You tricked me!”

Looking mock-surprised, the Inquisitor just blinked, “I would never…” the smug smirk on her lips completely said otherwise.

Nia just growled, putting her ears back, pouting as she crossed her arms and glared at Morag. The woman got her good, she could admit that…

_Still_ …

A small smirk picked at the Gormotti Flesh-Eater’s lips, as she moved to walk ahead with her arms behind her back.

Black brow raised, Morag eyed the woman, something wasn’t right, “Nia?”

“Oh, yea?” she turned back with lazy gold eyes, “Wut? Need somethin’ else, ey?”

That black brow remained up, “This isn’t your usual response?”

“Oh? Isn’t it?” the elaborate Gormotti Blade turned back with lazy eyes, raising a cream colored grey brow, arms still conspicuously behind her back, “You was absolutely right, ey! No need to worry a bit about water and such with me around, yea?” then gave a porcelain smile.

Light brown eyes narrowed, “Nia…”

“Now c’mon!” the elaborate Blade waved her hands about, her scimitar in one hand and water forming all around her in bubbles of ether, “It’s nothing really! Can’t be expecting much from a hotheaded human, now can I, ey?”

“Nia…” Morag said slowly, unconsciously lowering her stance, bracing for an attack she knew was coming.

“Yea, Morag?” that smile didn’t drop, as Nia tilted her head, looking _completely_ innocent… despite the amount of water forming around her.

That battle hardened sense of an imminent attack, one that she knew she _could **not**_ handle, crawled up Morag’s spine. Nia was giving that creepy porcelain smile and there was enough water around her to at the very _least_ toss her off the side of the World Tree.

It made Morag very uncomfortable and regret her little jape…

There was no word, just Nia’s eyes opening sinisterly just the _slightest_ bit and the water moved to push Morag to the ground and hold her in place. Nia would give the mortal woman some credit, she was sturdy and strong, and resisted well enough…

But she was an _‘almighty_ ’ Flesh-Eater, one that could compete with an Aegis! Pinning Morag to the ground so she’d sit still was child’s play~

“NIA!!” Morag was trying as hard as she could, pushing against the watery barrier. If this were some manner of solid confinement she was almost certain she could work her way around it or push it off, but as it was ether infused liquid that moved with ever push and pull… it was extremely irritating to say the least.

“Hehehe,” Nia just giggled, crouching next to the bound Ardainian woman, “Now, you just rest up yea? I’m sure you still got a few injuries my ether can patch up-!!”

“I’ve rested enough!” Morag continued struggling, “I am fine!”

There was a snort above the bound Ardainian woman, “Yea, sure,” Nia’s eyes seemed to shimmer as she reached over Morag, grabbing the Inquisitor’s hat.

Morag growled, “Give that back!”

“Hehehe,” with a cheeky giggle, Nia ignored her, putting the hat on her head between her long ears. It didn’t quite fit right and if she leaned too far to one side it would fall right off, but Nia couldn’t help it, giving a smug grin and wink towards her captive audience, “Well, how do I look?”

A blush crept up the bound Ardainian woman’s cheeks but she quickly looked away, trying not to scowl as she closed her eyes and grit her teeth, “Fine! I’m sorry Nia! Now give me back my hat and release me!”

Gold eyes rolled as Nia sighed, “Architect you can be no fun,” with a snap the water lost all form, releasing the wet Inquisitor. Nia giggled when the first thing Morag did was try to snatch back her hat, but she had put her hand on the piece seated between her ears and leaned back, “Ah! Ey, now!”

Morag seemed to smirk, looking in Nia’s eyes a moment before jumping back, taking up an offensive stance…

- _That’s weird?_ \- it took Nia a moment to realize what was strange about Morag’s stance…

The Inquisitor was standing side faced, and seemed to be hiding one of her hands behind her back with the other in front almost like a guard… and what was with the smirk?

Narrowing her gold eyes, Nia stood up, still holding the hat on her head and glared at the Ardainian woman, “Oi, what you got there, Morag?”

“I’m surprised you didn’t notice?” at the funny look on Nia’s face, Morag just held her smug smirk, turning slightly to reveal what she’d nabbed from the Gormotti Flesh-Eater…

It was Nia’s scimitar.

With a growl, Nia’s ears went back and her shoulders went up, nearly hissing, “Oi, give that back!”

Pulling the crystal blade out, Morag inspected it, looking it over, looking sly and taking her time, “Oh? You want this back?” she waved the blade around, it was surprisingly light, not as much as one of Brighid’s rapier-whips, but it was decently sized to fit well in one hand. She tossed it between her hands a moment, testing the weight and balance, “This is a good sword…”

A bit of a blush rose on Nia’s cheeks, which she tried to completely ignore as she looked away, holding out her hand, “Y-yea, well, give it back!”

Morag just raised a brow, looking at Nia being flustered, “I’m surprised you don’t just _take_ it back?” with barely any effort, the Imperial Inquisitor twirled the sword around with one hand, finding the balance impeccable. Nia certainly knew how to make a weapon…

The blush on Nia’s face increased, eyes getting wider by the second as she watched the woman _play_ with her sword. It was… too much for Nia, to say the least, “G-give it back, Morag! I’m telling you now!” her ears went back and took the silly hat off, growling, “Th-that’s not… it’s not something **_you_** should be messin’ with, yea!”

At the wording Morag turned back to Nia and blinked, catching the crystal scimitar with one hand and looked at the Flesh-Eater. Nia was bright red, holding out her hand for her weapon while holding her hat in the other, not looking, in fact _refusing_ to look. It puzzled Morag why the Gormotti woman hadn’t simply recalled her weapon and why was she so flustered…

Recalling this was _Nia’s_ weapon, not another Blade’s, but **_her_** weapon… and everything that entailed…

Red crept up Morag’s face as she wordlessly handed the weapon back to the Gormotti Flesh-Eater. Some part of her mind would not stop making insinuations about how stealing Nia’s ‘sword’ was NOT THE SAME as Nia stealing her hat, especially when she’d gone the extra step and started ‘playing’ with it…

Wordlessly Nia took back her sword, handing back the hat in the same gesture and they both took an extra step apart as they fixed themselves up… namely the two facing away from one another as Morag put her hat back on and Nia put her sword ‘away’…

It was awkwardly silent for a moment… well, if one were to completely ignore the rampant battle between Indol’s zealots and the Artificial Blade army going on…

Completely silent~

Then suddenly there was a snort, as Nia couldn’t hold it in any longer, bringing her hand up to her lips, shoulders shaking and she was _trying_ very hard not to let the giggles out.

Still a bit flustered, Morag turned back to Nia with a raised brow, she was just concerned, that was all, “Nia?”

At this point the Gormotti Flesh-Eater was flat out giggling, unable to hold it in any longer, “If you wanted to play with it that bad, why didn’t you just take it in Morytha when you had the chance?!”

“Th-that was-it…” an embarrassed blush crept up Morag’s cheeks and she knew she had no excuse for her actions, “It’s _not_ the same!” childishly, she turned away from the Gormotti Flesh-Eater with a pout, tugging down the visor of her cap.

Nia just kept laughing, arms around her stomach and bent over as it was the funniest thing in the world to her right now.

Morag, terrifying dread Special Inquisitor of the Empire of Mor Ardain… acting like a little kid playing with _her_ sword.

It was truly priceless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i feel very immature with how this turned at the end, but otherwise it would have exploded into angst, and i just wanted them acting like little kids~ XD
> 
> hey, pheonix~ this good for 'Hyper!Nia' :P


	11. We Can Make It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nia just needs a little confidence, luckily Morag's got plenty to spare~

“We can make it if we take it slow.”

“You… you sure about this?”

The black haired woman smiled, a light shining in her light brown eyes, “Of course.”

That smug confident look, it was what Nia truly fell in love with.

She couldn’t help the blush that spread from her face likely all the way down to her toes.

… and thanks to her Blade form, she was sure everyone could see it.

A ball was being held for the Emperor’s fourteenth birthday, so of course everyone that was _anyone_ in Mor Ardain had to attend.

This included the Special Inquisitor, both as the primary guard for the Emperor, and as his guest of honor. The boy truly doted on his sister, Nia found it cute.

But her lover wasn’t the only one being forced into the lime light today, the young Emperor, despite it being _his_ birthday, seemed to enjoy it by throwing his sister into the spotlight… along with her _consort_.

Nia was feeling very nervous. She had lived in Mor Ardain over a year, manage to sneak her way out of _both_ the Emperor’s **_and_** the Imperial Inquisitor’s birthdays last year, but that was merely because no one _really_ knew who she was. There were rumors, of course, politicians loved gossip, their wives, husbands, and other spouses even more so.

Nothing was juicier then a possible scandal, and pertaining to the _prestigious_ and immaculate Inquisitor? That was just _asking_ for a feeding frenzy.

Brighid had told Nia that the court was _well-aware_ of Morag’s ‘leanings’, had known for years, especially when she hadn’t so much as considered a suitor, ever. It was pretty obvious to most if not all of the politicians and generals they’d gain absolutely _no_ favor with either of the imperial royals through selling off their sons to them… but a daughter? Seems they had better luck… at least then the Inquisitor _looked_.

It didn’t mean they wouldn’t try something later with a son or some other marriage proposal, Brighid assured her of that. Political marriages were out of convenience, not interest in any sense, and the potential for an heir was always a more appealing prospect.

The more the blue flame Blade spoke on the concept of Morag getting married, to **_anyone_** , the more Nia growled, ears lowering, and she may or may not have barged into the busy Ardainian woman’s office and just grabbed her, held on for several hours and effectively made it impossible for Morag to get _any_ work done that day…

Nia blamed Brighid, and Morag was inclined to agree, sourly eyeing her primary Blade.

But this just meant Nia was being more… _clingy_ then normal, poking her nose out of their room more often, getting spotted spying on the Inquisitor, stalking her dealings, and outright _hissing_ at senators and generals alike when they so much as looked her way.

Suffice it to say, Morag and Niall had gotten more than a _few_ complaints about the ‘Gormotti miscreant skulking about the palace walls’ or so the more polite descriptions of her went.

So that _might_ have been why Niall, cashing in his birthday favor, convinced his sister to _invite_ her lover to join her for the ball on his birthday.

Despite how much Morag was against the public… _everything_ … dealing with Nia, the court, and the two mingling, it was shockingly easy to get the Gormotti woman to agree.

If Nia so much as caught a whiff of Morag needing a ‘suitor’ for the ball, how it was tragically _mandatory_ this year, and if she didn’t come Morag would have to find someone else… well, she honestly didn’t get to finish that sentence.

So here they were, on the other side of the ballroom doors, in an empty hallway…

Morag in her finest dress uniform, metals on full display, even the one they had to _invent_ for the whole ‘saving the world’ deal, along with her ceremonial sash and lanyard…

And Nia, at her side, nervously toeing the ground in her Blade form…

Technically it would be the first time she showed herself openly, and willingly, to the public like this… or period.

So it was understandable why she was nervous.

Morag held out her elbow to the shorter woman at her side, that smug confident smile like she’d done this a million times…

And Nia’s gold eyes couldn’t pull themselves away, watering slightly as her long ears went back and her blush was even more apparent.

She had to take a breath, she was doing this for Morag… doing this for herself… for _them_.

With a shaky hand she threaded it through Morag’s offered elbow, feeling the woman’s strength and gathering her own from it.

Her ears perked up as she snuck closer to her lover, cheeky grin spreading on her white marked cheeks, “They got no _idea_ what they about to deal with, ey?”

For a moment those gold eyes looked sly, buzzing with mischief.

It was something Morag had fallen in love with herself…

Her smile turned to a smirk, “No, they have no idea.”

As the doors opened, she leaned down and kissed her lover on the lips, surprising both Nia and the crowd of onlookers there to greet them.

\-----

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the first line is from 'When you were young' by The Killers... its been looping on my media player lately, just love the melody and using it to write some other stuff...
> 
> and when i have 40mins left of a day i can spend 20mins stuck on one line from it and come up with this XD
> 
> hope you guys like the stupid little fluff~ ;P


	12. How to Properly Weave a Flower Wreath...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If its tradition, its got to be done right, yea?

\-----

How to properly weave a flower wreath…

They were spending some free time in Gormott.

It was sunny, the flowers were in bloom, there was the noise of Torigoth rebuilding off in the distance…

Nia’s ear flicked. She’d fallen asleep in the field a bit outside the gate. It was just so warm and sunny and just the perfect day to sit back, relax, and do nothing…

Her ear flicked again.

She heard Dromarch yawn not far away. He was just as much of a lazy cat as she was despite him always getting up on her about it. give them a nice light breeze and a warm sunny day like this? Heck, everything was a bed then, yea? was same for most Gormotti, this’d be the kind of day to just lay back, take a nice catnap and not have a care in the world…

Her ear flicked again… only this time it seemed to hit something…

That wasn’t right, there wasn’t supposed to be anything there…

Slowly Nia raised her head. She’d been laying on her stomach in the field of flowers, head tucked in her arms and just basking in the sun…

The heck was bothering her ear that was daring to wake her up?!

Groggy gold eyes forced themselves open as she looked around. Nothing in front of her…

Dromarch’s sleeping form was in the corner of her eye to the right…

Nothing else seemed out of place…

With a snort she just lowered her head back in her arms, figuring it was just a bug or something.

Only then did she feel something slide off her head, lightly hit her hands and bounce off, landing presumably in front of her.

Narrow, annoyed, lazy gold eyes rose, turning to the offending thing that was keeping her awake.

It was a wreath.

A _flower_ wreath.

The hell was it doing on her head?!

As she stared at the strangely out of place _thing_ , a giggle crept into her ear.

Not a particularly light or tittering one, a bit husky and clearly amused.

She knew that giggle.

Slowly turning her head, towards Dromarch as she just _knew_ where that vile Blade would be…

Brighid was seated demurely, against Dromarch’s sleeping side, giggling lightly into one of her gloved hands.

Gold eyes narrowed as those cream colored grey Gormotti ears went back.

“No need for such a look.” Brighid lightly chided, only a _small_ amused smile on her lips.

Those gold eyes narrowed more, “Oi,” her voice sounded hoarse from sleep, “This your handiwork?”

“Now why would you assume that,” the blue flame Blade waved her hand nonchalant.

Nia wanted to growl, instead turning towards the flower wreath. It wasn’t _necessarily_ bad… made of local flowers in the field around them… well enough to stay together on its own…

Just why the bloody hell was it on her head?!

With a grumble the Gormotti woman pushed herself slowly to sit up, taking the thing in her hand and inspecting it. She blinked several times, clearly trying to wake up properly… but it was sunny and warm, her body wanted nothing but to lay back down and bask in the sunlight.

“Morag make this?”

Despite the weirdness that thought brought her as she had more time to think about it, it sort of made sense, right? Brighid was here… meaning Morag had to _at least_ been here at some point…

“And what makes you think that?” Brighid just lightly asked, neither confirming nor denying.

Gold eyes just glared at the Jewel of the Empire, “Who else would’a, yea?” with a snort she rolled her eyes, feeling around the wreath for any loose points, “Dromarch can’t make’em and you’d probably burn them with a touch…”

_Somehow_ Brighid managed to send Nia a very unamused look despite having her eyes seemingly closed…

“Suppose that makes sense?” at this point Nia wasn’t even paying the other Blade any mind, too engrossed in inspecting the flower wreath, “Her being a _Lady_ and all…” a few more turns of the wreath before her ears cocked oddly, “Though, how she do that? There ain’t no flowers in Mor Ardain?”

“There are a few,” Brighid smirked when Nia turned her way, “They are very rare and very hard to cultivate,” she waved her hand, smirk becoming smug, “So of course only a _royal Lady_ would ever learn to any kind of flower arranging with them…”

“Now I know you’re bullshitein’ me,” those gold eyes were flat, calling the blue flame Blade out on her blatant lie.

Brighid only smirked, putting her hand down and leaning more comfortably against Dromarch’s snoozing form, “Truthfully, she learned it here in Gormott,” those seemingly closed eyes turned towards Torigoth, “Lady Morag spent her youth here after all, it wasn’t _all_ political parties and sword lessons, hmhm…”

Gazing flatly back at Torigoth, Nia could see it honestly. Some… _smaller_ … version of Morag, the terrifying Imperial Inquisitor, having to attend some fancy get together or practicing with swords… probably had a smaller version of her uniform too…

Looking back at the flower wreath though…

“I don’t believe you,” the Gormotti woman shook her head, “I honestly _can’t_ believe you…”

“It is merely what she told me while she sat there making it,” Brighid shrugged, amused that Nia didn’t believe her, “I was her Father’s Blade at the time, so I wouldn’t remember any of the details from her time here in her youth,” a funny look came over the seemingly blind Blade, “She spoke very fondly about learning how to make one from an elegant Gormotti woman…”

Nia’s ear visibly perked at the description, “Oh, yea?”

A trim blue brow rose ever so slightly, “Yes, apparently she would spend her time in these fields when she had the chance, collecting flowers, making wreaths for someone… Lady Morag said she’d only been following other Gormotti children, she seemed to be someone they knew, or a local celebrity, likely a lord’s daughter or something…”

Nia’s ear flicked again, her eyes focused on the wreath in her hands while her hands kept moving over it.

Brighid found her silence all the more interesting, “Lady Morag told me she always thought the Gormotti woman assumed she was just another local Ardainian child, no idea who she truly was at the time…”

“Doubt it would’a mattered,” Nia snorted, eyes not moving from the wreath as her hands moved on their own to pick a few flowers nearby, “S’pretty normal thing to do around here when you’re bored. Gormott isn’t exactly known for being an exciting place, yea.”

“Mmhmm…” Brighid watched carefully as Nia’s hands threaded in a few more flowers with expert ease, “Might I inquire what you’re doing?”

“I’m bloody fixin’ it, what’s it look like!” the Gormotti woman snapped, the hair on her ears bristled as she refused to look the blue flame Blade’s way, “Got a few of these bits loose, ‘bout what I expect from an _Ardainian_ …”

Brighid tried to hide the laugh that threatened to burst from her lips, “Well, it has been over a decade…” a sly brow rose with perhaps a smirk, “Though you seem well practiced in the art…”

“Show this to any Gormotti and they’d do the same!” there was an indignant snort from the Gormotti woman, _obviously_ ignoring Brighid’s insinuation, “Besides, can’t say much about old habits, yea?”

“Of course,” with a smug smirk, Brighid let the matter slide. She didn’t need to _prove_ anything, Nia would probably out herself anyway.

Or perhaps her Lady knew all along… after all, why else would she make a flower wreath and place it on the sleeping Gormotti woman’s head?

\-----

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a dumb idea that popped up in my mind while reading Favour by Summer_Dusk... that damn flower wreath man~ XD
> 
> also a little speculation, Nia was a Blade back in the day, she'd look the same, or at least her Blade form, or her Driver form afterwards that i assume she used to pretend to be her Da's daughter... not like she'd recognize a little black haired Ardainian girl amidst a gaggle of local kids while in Torigoth, riiiiiiiiiight? :D
> 
> food for thought~ hehehe~
> 
> and i'm sorry, no ACTUAL Morag in this one, shame~
> 
> also, not sure when this is, it could be game time, could be before or after they get all gay together, or later on when things settle in Elysium, either way, just an amusing scene :P


End file.
